So far, Brad Treliving has resisted making a trade for a defenceman, be they deals cooked up by crackpots on the Internet or credible National Hockey League peers.
The collective performance in the 3-2 loss underlined one of the reasons Toronto struggles to stay above .500: Too often, the reason to praise a hit from Jake McCabe, a shot block by Simon Benoit or to marvel at Mark Giordano’s 40-year-old stamina, has a counter-productive moment by them or others. And, because of that, the Leafs don’t get on a true roll to achieve separation in the standings.
“Tree will do what a manager has to do behind the scenes to make the team better (Chris Tanev rumours won’t abate and Ottawa GM Stave Staios’ appearance Monday at Scotiabank Arena was noted).
“We have discussions every day about it. Yet, from my perspective, we have a good team, good players. We as a staff have to do a better job working with them, help them recognize their own role in getting the team to play to its potential. We’ve done that about 50% of the games, but that’s not enough in the NHL.”
Free-agent signing John Klingberg was going to address the depth issue created when late-season rental Luke Schenn didn’t re-sign, but he is out long-term. Then Connor Timmins, Liljegren and Giordano were hurt at times, putting Liljegren under stress.
